Book Review: The Internet Con

 (Crossposted from The Itinerant Librarian.)

Cory Doctorow, The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation. London, UK: Verso Books, 2024. ISBN: 9781804292143.  (link to publisher)

Genre: technology, Internet

Subgenre: social media, corporations, essay

Format: trade paperback

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College 

 

In this small book, the author explains how major Internet companies became the monopolistic behemoths they are now. He also explains how these large companies manage to hold us hostage, making us stay with them even as we hate them and perhaps hate ourselves for staying. 

One thing I've learned in my years online, especially with social media, is that you have to be willing and ready to move on when a site goes to hell. By now, if I have to leave some people behind, so be it, but as much as possible I am ready to pack and go elsewhere when things get bad. In the book, the author reminds us we have the option to move, and he offers some tools to help make the move less painful. 

The book is organized in two major parts: 

• Part I: Seize the Means of Computation. Here the author explains how the companies get big and how for the most part they stay big due to influence, corruption, and legalized extortion. Add to this governments that are either lazy, clueless, and/or in league with said companies, and it does not leave room for hope. However, where there is a will there is a way, and the author provides some possible solutions. 
• Part II: What About. Here the author addresses possible objections including some corporate excuses not to do the right thing. 

The main concept to understand from the book is that of interoperability. It's the ability of different services to connect with each other and users in different places to interact on common ground. What the book explains: 

• "What interoperability is
• How interoperability works
• How we can get interoperability
• How we can mitigate interoperability's problems" (3). 

Mastodon and the Fediverse embody this pretty well. In simpler terms, this is what allows your GMail to communicate with someone else's Yahoo! email and both to communicate with Outlook Email.  For the most part, services like Facebook are walled prisons keeping users hostage. Once you understand interoperability, it makes sense. The author takes time to explain it, shows why it is important, and worth fighting for. 

The book for the most part is accessible, though there are some passages that may get too technical for some readers. The first part also has some repetitive passages, and it is a bit slow reading at times. The second part is an easy read in contrast to the first part. 

The author strives to give solutions, and points out some positive bits of legislation, but in these Hard Times it is difficult to be optimistic our governments would do anything right that would benefit regular people, less so if those things would displease those big tech companies that often keep those politicians in their pockets through political donations as well as dark money. So in the end, this all sounds great, but I would not hold my breath. What I will keep doing is using and learning more about Mastodon and the Fediverse and other open access options. They may be small and not glamorous, but they are not beholden to Big Tech. 

In the end, this is a good read even if it is not an easy read. It's not easy in the sense many folks may not want to hear the truth. Staying in Big Tech's prisons is easier for many folks than making a liberatory effort. 

Overall, I recommend the book for public and academic libraries. For me, as I am starting some research to craft a social media policy for our library, the book gives me plenty of food for thought. Maybe it will give more folks out there something to think about as well. 

4 out of 5 stars.

 

Additional reading notes: 

Why we need to fix tech: 

"Fixing tech isn't more important than fixing everything else, but unless we fix tech, we can forget about winning any of those other fights" (18). 

 

What is reverse engineering: 

"'Reverse engineering' is a time-honored and important guerrilla tactic in all technological struggles. Its meaning is well captured by its name: reverse engineering takes place when a technologist deeply probes a finished product or service to determine how it works, and also how to change or replicate the way it works" (84).  

 

This book qualifies for the following 2025 Reading Challenge: 

 

 

Book Review: Literacy in America

 (Crossposted from The Itinerant Librarian) 

Lawrence R. Samuel, Literacy in America: a cultural history of the past century. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2024.  ISBN: 9781538189542.

Genre: literacy, reading

Subgenre: history, education

Format: hardcover

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College 

This book presents a history of literacy in the United States over the last century. Literacy here refers to learning how to read and the ability to read. This is not a book about what Americans may or not have been reading.

The book makes some good points, but it is a seriously slow read, and it is pretty much a dry textbook. Sure, it considers how literacy is a contested ground for race, gender, and class, and those are important topics. However, the important ideas get buried in the constant citing of scholarly articles, trade publications, and other academic sources. To be honest, the book reads like a student research paper where the student, instead of being selective in what sources to cite to support their claims, just cited everything they found to fill up the page quota. Whatever voice the author has gets lots in citation after citation of this scholar in a journal article or that teacher in an education magazine.  

This is what the author intended with the book: 

"Supported by hundreds of research studies conducted throughout the years as reported in scholarly journals and popular magazines, the book intends to make a contribution to the histories of education, language, and literature, sociology, and the United States as a whole" (vii). 

Oh, he lays those research studies and periodical articles pretty thick. As for the contribution statement, that is an ambitious declaration.

I was honestly hoping this would be more interesting, but it was not. One detail I will mention is that history often repeats itself. Some of the concerns today on whether kids can read or not are pretty much the same as concerns back in the day. Every time a new technology comes along, be it radio, television, or the internet educators freak out about kids abandoning reading. For the most part, the kids are still reading, even if it is not the "classics," but that is another conversation. 

For example, back in the 1920s aand 1930s, pearls were clutched because kids were not reading classics or wholesome books: 

"Students tendency to choose less than hearty literary fare was just one problem associated with literacy in the 1920s and 1930s" (1). 

Gee, the generation coming out of the Great War (World War I) and its horrors wants to read light, fluffy, escapist fare. The humanity! I would say not unlike today with readers seeking light, fluffy, escapist fare to forget the Hard Times for a while. 

Overall I would say this book was just OK. For libraries, this is highly optional. If I had been able to read a review copy beforehand, I would not have ordered it for our library. This may be one for larger academic libraries with comprehensive collections in education and maybe some large library school libraries. Small academic libraries can pretty much skip this. 

2 out of 5 stars. 

Book Review: Information Literacy and Social Media

 (Crossposted from The Itinerant Librarian)

 

Michele Santamaria and A. Nicole Pfannenstiel,  Information literacy and soci@l medi@ : empowered student engagement with the ACRL framework. Chicago, IL: ACRL, 2024.  ISBN: 9798892555456.

Genre: library science

Subgenre: Information literacy, social media, higher education

Format: trade paperback

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College

 

I ordered this book for our library with high hopes, but in the end I was not really impressed. In addition, I do not think the $50.00 price was worth it for this very slim volume. 

As many of these LIS books, and articles as well, often do, this one starts with the common alarmist tone that most librarians are barely competent, mostly technology illiterate, and are clueless about the tech young ones today use. That could not be further from the truth, but I've read enough LIS books and articles to keep seeing that trope. Naturally, the authors are cool, hip, and knowledgeable and bring you their knowledge. The book shows a bit of the messianic tone some parts of librarianship embrace. 

Once you get past the opening we get a lot of LIS theory, reminders, and connections to the ACRL Framework, and arguments for bringing it and information literacy to social media. Some of the authors' points are valid, and others feel a little forced. In the end, the second chapter is a heavy literature review that is a bit of a slog to read. 

The one useful element of Chapter 2 are the reflection questions for teachers and/or library instructors. Taking the time to answer the questions, do some writing and journaling, can be a good preparation for teachers. It can also just be a good reflection exercise. I probably should take some time and do some of the writing. I have done some writing on my social media experiences, but I can always explore and reflect some more. 

The strength of the book is in Chapter 3 where you get the lesson plans and exercises. The plans are cross-disciplinary. The plans are detailed and well-structure. Activities are interactive and encourage students and their instructors to reflect on their experiences of social media and information literacy. Whether we like it or not, and there is a lot to dislike about social media, it is a big part of our students' lives and we should do better in educating them on how to navigate, use it, and evaluate better. This is where the lessons help. 

Every chapter includes a list of notes, and there is also a bibliography at end of the book for further reading or just to check the references. 

Overall, the good part is in the lesson plans. The rest of the theory could have been summarized better and/or kept brief. I do not think the contents justify the book's high cost. I'd say if you must read it to borrow it, scan the lesson plans, skip the rest. Still, I may try to implement a plan or two from the book down the road. Our students spend some time on social media, though from what I see it's not too connected to news and information. It is more for interpersonal connections, but that could be a topic to investigate down further. 

Overall, I liked the idea of the book. I did not like some of the tone of the book, its execution, nor the pricing. Still, it could've been worse. In the end as a whole it was just OK .

2 out of 5 stars. 

 

Additional reading notes: 

 

Students may push back on social media in the classroom: 

"Students bring with them the idea that social media should be reserved for non-academic purposes, an idea reinforced through schooling, teachers, and responsible use policies" (11).  

I somewhat agree with the students. Heck, I remember the days of early social media where librarians were given all kinds of warnings about not mixing work and personal online and where the wrong social media post could get you fired. Librarians on social media now are mostly normalized, but it is still wise at least to keep the professional and personal  somewhat separated. I say that based on experience, but I do admit it is easier said than done to keep the two aspects separate online. Note that while the authors acknowledge the negatives and dangers of social media, they downplay them somewhat to make their argument. I am not saying to completely disengage from social media, though complete disengagement should be an option if desired, especially in the current Hard Times. 

The list of reflection questions for teachers and librarians, starting in page 17 of the book: 

• What social media platforms do I currently use? What do I use them for?
• What do I believe to be true about the social media platforms I am familiar with (such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, X, and Pinterest?).
• What negative ideas about these spaces do I need to question and complicate/unravel so I can support learner engagement? 
• What positive ideas about these spaces do I need to question and complicate/unravel so I can support learner engagement? 
• What more would I like to know about these spaces to use them more effectively?

 

The list of classroom space reflection questions, to consider as you use the lesson plans here or for other social media activities, from page 48 of the book: 

• How collaborative is the instructional relationship? 
• How many sessions do you anticipate working on this threshold concept?
• Will the librarian be embedded in the course?
• Will the librarian provide ongoing social media and/or learning management system support to students?
• Does the library have library-specific content available within social media sites that can model social media use in support of learning?
• Does the library have social media accounts used to foster interaction between students and librarians?
• What will librarian instructor presence be like, on and offline?

 

Being a librarian who reads books helps me help students better

As I am preparing for a research consultation, I had a random thought that it pays off as a librarian to be a reader as well. Especially so if you read books from your own library on various topics. I can then recall book options for students that may come in for a consultation. 

For example, for the student writing on George Orwell, fascism, and the United States, Antifa (link to my review) comes to mind right away. 

For the student writing on Black history and suppression of Black history in schools, Our history has always been contraband comes to mind (link to review). 

I went to the library stacks, found them, and added them to the materials I would offer those students when they came in to meet with me. 

By the way, this can also include articles I may have seen and read on a student topic that I can then share with a student. At times, I have sent a student a link to an article on their topic after a research consult in the hopes they will find it helpful. 

I will note further that I have met librarians who, for whatever reason, declare that they do not read, or read as minimally as possible. For me, reading broadly helps me in my work. Even if it is just being aware and reading reviews as part of collection development can be helpful in helping students. But when I can put a book in their hands I have read and tell them that I have read it I think it has a bit more power. Now whether the student reads it or not, or at least skims it, is their choice. I am under no delusions they will read a whole book for a research assignment. All I can do is offer. Up to them to then use the resource or not. 

As I am typing this, I am thinking of making the occasional list of books I have read from our library that I can recommend for certain topics. It could be an occasional blog post here in part for my own reference.